A game away from being a champion

Saturday

Former Greene Central football standout will compete for professional football title Monday night.

For a guy whose NFL dreams were shattered by an injured knee, Brandon Sutton is now a game away from being a champion.

The former Greene Central High School linemantook another route to professional football two years ago, signing with the Richmond Raiders of the Professional Indoor Football League. The Raiders will face the top-seeded Alabama Hammers Monday night in the PIFL Championship game. Sutton, a nose tackle, hopes the defense — which he called instrumental in the team’s second consecutive trip to the championship — will drive in the win.

The Raiders lost twice this season to Alabama.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row, and I’ll let everyone know right now they’re not going to see the same Richmond Raiders they’ve seen two times already,” said Sutton, a first team All-PIFL defensive leader this season.

The Raiders (8-5) lost 65-23 in their first matchup against the Hammers (10-2) and were defeated by the team a second time last month, 45-29. The Hammers conquered defending champions Albany Panthers to wind up in the championship game, with the Raiders sliding by the Lehigh Valley Steel Hawks, 44-40, to return for the title.

“It’s been a lot of ups and down this season,” said Sutton, a defensive captain. “It’s been a lot of adversity (and) we’ve had a lot of injuries this season. A lot of guys stepped in (and) … made key plays when they needed to be made. Overall, the defense has played really strong this season.”

Raiders head coach James Fuller said the team had a key run towards the end of the season to guarantee a home game in the first round of playoffs.

“We’ve worked really hard this year,” he said. “We need to keep playing well defensively, put pressure on the quarterback and make him uncomfortable.”

Fuller added the offensive line must control turnovers Monday night and Sutton has been a big part of Raider defense.

“For the last four weeks, the defensive line has really played well together due to Sutton doing a very good job,” Fuller said. “He’s really turned it up.”

Sutton recorded a Raider-high 9.5 tackles for loss during the regular season. The nose guard was the leader in sacks with nine and laid down 33 tackles in his nine games.

He credits his family for his personal successes this season.

“My little girl … she’s basically my No. 1 fan,” Sutton said of his 6-year-old daughter. “Every home game, every away game, she’s right there with her pom-pom. As a man in general, you never want your child to see you on the ground or losing. So kind of knowing that she’s right there, I know every play I have to go 100 percent hard.

“I have to do it for her.”

Sutton, playing in his second season as a Raider, said the arena football team has become family as well. He was the youngest guy on the roster last year but has since developed a lot.

“I’m not the youngest any more, but I have a lot of experience of just how the game works, what needs to be brought to practice (and) the weight room and what it takes to win a ball game,” Sutton said. “It was just one of those things where the team was hungry. When you’ve got a team that’s hungry, it’s hard to beat.”

For Sutton, being a football standout was unique in basketball-crazed area of Eastern North Carolina. But it was traditional among the men in his family, and Sutton realized in seventh grade he had the build for the gridiron.

Sutton, a Catawba College graduate, runs a summer camp at Manchester Middle School in Richmond during the PIFL offseason. After Monday, he said can possibly move up to the Arena Football League in Pittsburgh or Cleveland.

While moving to the highest level of indoor football is hopeful, Sutton is focused on winning a title Monday night.

“Having that pressure on me makes my game rise three levels and everybody else’s game just rises with mine,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be a showdown.”

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 and Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

Professional Indoor Football League Championship Game

Richmond Raiders vs. Alabama Hammers

Monday at 8 p.m.

Von Braun Center

700 Monroe St., Huntsville, Ala. 35801

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